Mangos and Oranges
by JSML
Summary: Under the guise of a home tutor, the most lethal and sadistic hitman in the world was assigned to facilitate the training of Sawada Tsunayoshi in becoming the next Vongola boss. To Tsuna, he became so much more than that: a teacher, a partner, a friend, family...and occasionally, a father. One-shot collection of R and 27 during the moments in between. (Not yaoi or slash)
1. Night Tears and Mangos

**Target 01: Night Tears and Mangos  
**

 **Prompt:** Tsuna has nightmares. Sharing a room with a certain vigilant hitman makes that kind of hard to keep a secret.

 **A/N:** references to the Varia and Future arcs

* * *

The first bad dream Tsuna could recall having was when he still a young child. School had been especially difficult to get through that day.

Rin-sensei had called him out during the lesson, which Tsuna had been struggling to understand, and criticized him, prompting him to cry in front of his whole class and further embarrass himself. Later that day, nobody wanted to let him play on their team. With blatant reluctance, he was eventually pushed onto one team and an hour later, they had lost the game. Some of the larger boys became irritated with his lack of skills.

 _"Useless Tsuna, you cost us the game! You're worse than useless."_

 _"Yeah, you're just no-good at everything. No-good Tsuna!"_

 _"How unlucky, Dame-Tsuna."_

After school, he was sporting a handful of bruises and the Tsuna ran outside to quickly hop on his bike and avoid receiving any additional ones. While he rode away, he heard many of the usual snickers behind his back as the other kids saw that his bicycle was still using training wheels.

His dream that night had warped into a terrible re-experience of that day. When the other boys converged on him, eager to beat their frustrations on him, the ground crumbled beneath him and then he was falling into a deep black void.

Falling and tumbling, head first...down, down, _down!_

He woke up that night, heart pounding and body trembling. He was awake and safe but the phantom memory of uncontrollably falling through the air lingered in his mind. It made his skin crawl. Although shaking under his covers, he refused to go wake his Kaa-chan up for something so trivial, that was obviously his own fault. Otou-san was gone again and he didn't want to trouble her any more.

He lay in bed, in the dark of his room, and tossed around fitfully for a long time before drifting back to sleep.

-o-

Many of the terrifying nightmares he had after that were forgotten. Eventually, he grew out of them altogether. They didn't return until after Reborn had shown up in his life and turned everything upside down and inside out. For the most part, it wasn't the dreams themselves that bothered him. It was the all encompassing thoughts of fear and anxiety that accompanied them.

During the battles for the other half of the Vongola rings against the Varia, Tsuna had come to the very sudden realization that he and his friends could, probably _would_ , lose. They could get hurt, maybe even _die_ , in this stupid conflict. Or maybe with some brilliant stroke of luck, they'd win. But afterwards, Gokudera-kun, Takeshi, Ryohei, even Hibari and poor Lambo, they'd see how unlucky being around him was. This fight was only happening because he was deemed to be the so-called next Vongola boss and now by mere association, their own lives were at stake as well. If any of them had some sense of sanity left in them, they'd leave him while they still could.

After Lambo's fight with Levi, Tsuna had barely gotten three hours of sleep before jolting awake with raw images of how that battle would have turned out if he hadn't intervened in time. Blinking away the scene from his mind, he sat up and weakly tried to force away the feeling of dread creeping through him. Just how were they supposed to win this thing? He was incredibly fortunate to have found friends who were willing to fight through this with him but if they all got through this alive, would they still stick with him afterwards?

Now that he knew what it was like to constantly be surrounded by people who liked him, who laughed with him and spent time with him, he felt a keen sense of loss at the thought of everything going back to the way things were before.

He looked over at Reborn, slightly relieved he hadn't woken up his personal devil incarnate "tutor". The baby appeared to still be sleeping, if that bubble was anything to go by. He lay back down but forewent any effort to go back to sleep. Now that he was wide awake, Tsuna began worrying about the future battles he and his friends would have to face. He thought about Xanxas, his scary smile, and the ominous words words he'd spoken about the Ninth. The flames Xanxus had conjured before that Cervello lady stopped him looked dangerous. How was he supposed to face a guy twice his age with a raging temper and destructive flames like _that_? Tsuna lay in his bed as the remainder of the night began to inch by while his mind raced from one horrible scenario to another.

"Tsuna, go to sleep."

Startled from his thoughts, he snapped to attention and glanced towards the side of his room where his tutor lay. Reborn was obviously awake and looking back at him (his face difficult to see without the light turned on but nonetheless) whilst holding a penetrating stare.

"Reborn…"

"Your famiglia will make it through this," Reborn interrupted. "they're good guardians and you've chosen trustworthy friends. Are you doubting the strength of their characters? Do you think they are the type of people who would abandon a friend when challenges arise? I hope that you would know them better than that by now."

Oh Reborn, ever the mind reader.

Tsuna mulled over his tutor's words and shame washed over him. His friends were crazy; they were contentious (kind of dangerous and scary at times) but they were good, dependable people. They were _his_ friends...his family? They wouldn't choose to abandon someone if things got dangerous. Even someone like dame-Tsuna. No, abandonment was something that _he_ would have done once upon a time ago if the situation had been reversed.

Reborn was right, what had he been thinking?

"Now go back to sleep."

"But..." Tsuna knew he still wouldn't be able to. "I can't," he mumbled.

His friends were in danger, battling for not just the rings but their lives. And as for himself, just how in the world was he supposed to go against Xanxas and _win_? Tsuna hadn't done very much training and while he was familiar with his X-gloves, they were still relatively new.

Reborn gave no immediate response. Then he sighed, "Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna sat up again while Reborn continued. "You are a blood descendent of Primo, not to mention you are _my_ student. If you go to face Xanxus with the expectation to lose, you _will_ fail." Reborn paused, "I don't teach failure students. I have faith that if you trust your instincts and put to use all the training you've gone through so far, you'll survive. Heh, you might even surprise us all and win. Now lay down and go back to sleep in the next three seconds or I will shoot you. Or I'll knock you out with a Leon-hammer. You won't be any good in a fight if you arrive already tired."

 _I have faith..._

Tsuna gaped at his tutor. "Reborn, you-"

 _Click_.

"Hiieee! Alright! Alright!" He lay down immediately and settled among his covers. He looked at Reborn one last time to find the infant already snoozing again.

Why was he even surprised?

He stared up at his ceiling, reflecting on the hitman's words and feeling the waves of worry and anxiety ebb away. After a few minutes, the gentle pull of sleep tugged him into a dreamless rest.

-o-

Tsuna was sitting at his desk at the Vongola headquarters amongst stacks of papers, penning out his signature on the last of document that required his approval for that day. It had been a long and rather uneventful week. He was looking forward to getting to spend time with his family while he still had the chance. A quick knock was the only audible warning he received before his office doors quickly opened.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Get out there. _Now._ "

Before the man entered and spoke his name, the Vongola Decimo had already sensed his dangerous aura striding down the hall that led to the room he'd been occupying for the past several hours.

Tsuna placed the final paper on his "Completed" pile and gracefully lay his pen on the large mahagony desk. When he looked up, his eyes were greeted to the sight of a rather disheveled and "put out" Hibari Kyoya. Despite the probability he would get bitten to death, Tsuna grinned. It looked like he had another family conflict (reunion) to personally break up and for once, he was looking forward to it.

"I'm coming," he affirmed. The young boss grabbed his stack of finished papers and put them in a file, sealed with his sky flame. He stood up and with a small skip to his step, followed his cloud guardian towards the distant ruckus—

Blood. There was blood. Everywhere.

Tsuna looked down, seeing dark red patches splattering his clothes and drenching his X-gloves. It was warm. It was sticky and thick. It smelt awful. The scent of iron, fire, ash and _blood_ clung to the surrounding mist. Natsu roared desperately behind him. Corpses of his allies, friends, and famiglia were strewn everywhere. There were bodies and there were body _parts_. He felt like gagging when he thought he recognized some of them. Tears gathered in the corners of both of his orange glazed eyes. This was the side of mafia he never wanted to see; he never wanted his friends to become a part of this; it was a disgusting world he never wanted the _kids_ to know about—and yet they were all wading through this horror show together because this was their lives. The Millefiore...war…

The full effect of his demolishing the Vongola rings was hitting him hard right now. It had been done for a necessary reason. The threat of Byakuran using them against his famiglia was no more. But in light of the inconspicuous slaughter the Vongola, and the world they were subjected to, all hope Tsuna had previously held for his family to win this war relatively peacefully had been completely crushed.

"Operation X," he whispered. He grounded his stance and raised both arms to unleash another another destructive blast. Tsuna let out a scream of rage, despair and burning fury. Heat and flames and smoke and _death_ —

And then he was sitting at the side of a bed in a secluded room where a small figure in a white spandex suit lay sick and _dying_. The outfit would have looked funny if the situation weren't so terribly serious. By the time Verde and Giannini discovered a successful method of protection against the Anti Tri-ni-set Radiation, its paralytic poison had already worked its way into many of the Arcobalenos' internal organs, spreading throughout their system. The sun-colored pacifier was weakly pulsing a light that seemed to grow dimmer with each day. A familiar black fedora with a thick orange stripe lay on the table. It hadn't been picked up for some time.

The Arcobaleno's skin was pale and his body devoid of strength. It had been a few days since Reborn had lost the endurance to even opened his eyes. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, Colonello, Tou-san, Mammon, Fon, Nono, Verde, even Skull, and now Reborn… Irie Shouichi-kun's proposal echoed in the Vongola boss's head. As more time passed, he found himself more and more willing to accept the risks of possibly the most insane plan ever attempted. Tsuna gently lifted his former tutor up when the former began a harsh coughing fit, using his sky flames to provide any comfort he possibly could—

The scene shifted once again and he was kneeling in front of a freshly engraved stone plaque. Cold tears flowed freely down his cheeks and his body shook with grief. The petite fedora he held weighed heavy between his fingers. Warm and vibrant colors streaked across the horizon. _'They shouldn't be so bright,'_ he thought. The brilliant spectrum of light receded and the setting sun performing one final dance before it sunk deep into the earth; its comforting rays no longer touched the sky…

 _Tsuna!_

Suddenly, the brunette was aware that his body wasn't just trembling as he sobbed at the memorial site but that someone's hands were wrapped around his shoulders, literally shaking him back and forth. He scrunched open his eyes (he hadn't realized they were so tightly closed) and after a few seconds, processed that he was not twenty-four; he was not outside but in his room, on his bed; and Reborn was—

Reborn.

His tutor was calmly but firmly nudging him awake from a nightmare of future memories that flooded his subconscious when he'd fallen asleep that night. He mentally shoved away any lingering sleepiness and sat up. Reborn removed his small hands from his student's shoulders.

Tsuna and his friends had returned from the future less than a week ago. Everyone they'd contacted reported receiving a collection of memories belonging to their future selves and certain details concerning the drastic consequences of time travel and parallel world crossing. Though Tsuna had been physically present for it all, this universe apparently deemed it necessary that he receive portions of his future self's memories. Not all of them, just enough to vividly recall the emotionally driven moments and points of crisis. And they came to him at night for some reason, disturbing his sleep and hindering his initial mood of celebration.

In comparison to his previous dreams, tonight's had been exponentially worse. Not even his own temporary death via assassination (which was totally disturbing in its own right) had affected him this much.

"Tsuna," prompted Reborn. His voice sounded concerned. Why was he concerned? Tsuna was fine. _He_ hadn't been helplessly subjected to a slow, torturous death like the other Arcobaleno.

The teen's wet eyes met the hitman's dark ones. He focused on his tutor's presence, drinking in his healthy (and very much _alive_ ) state. Without thinking, he reached out and lightly pressed his hand against the home tutor's chest. Reborn seemed to understand and let him.

 _Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum..._

He relished that steady beating heart and the small rhythm of movement that came with each breath.

After staying in that position for several minutes, Tsuna slowly dropped his hand. He opened his mouth to assure Reborn that he was okay, that he was sorry for causing all of this trouble, and that he was so glad Reborn was there, alive and well. That had been his intentions, anyway. Instead, what escaped his dry throat was a pathetic, choked sob.

"I'm right here, dame-Tsuna."

It was as if that was all it took for the dam break. He internally wanted to release another angst-ridden scream but instead, Sawada Tsunayoshi collapsed into a full meltdown: tears, hiccups, tremors, and sad bouts of wailing galore. To say Tsuna was a gross crier was a bit of an overstatement (he'd gotten a lot of practice), if the Vongola Decimo candidate could say so himself, but he'd admit there wasn't anything pretty about it either.

He cried for his future self's memories, despite their semi-non existence. He sobbed for Yuni and Gamma and even Byakuran. He cried for his famiglia, dead (kind of) and alive, for his unwanted destiny as the Vongola Decimo and the weight of his future responsibilities. He cried for everyone who had been caught up in his future self's crazy plan, for his pathetic, lonely past, for his mom, his friends, and his family.

Through it all, Reborn wordlessly stayed by his side, allowing him to release all of his pent up frustration, sadness and stress. Tsuna was certain that his embarrassing breakdown lasted for a little over twenty minutes. When his fit subsided to silence, slight tremors, and a couple occasional remaining hiccups, Reborn gracefully hopped off the bed and stepped out of the room. Tsuna felt absolutely spent. He didn't even have time to wonder where he'd left to, when his home tutor return with a box of tissues and an iced fruit drink (where did he even get the drink?).

He first offered the box of tissues to the young teen who scrubbed away his lingering tears and thankfully accepted it to blow his nose. Then the sun arcobaleno handed the cold drink and a straw to Tsuna. Without hesitation, his student sipped the drink, tasting the cool mango flavored liquid slide down his throat and calm his system.

Oddly, Reborn didn't force him to go back to sleep that night. He stayed awake with Tsuna until pure exhaustion swept over and the boy managed to gain a couple more hours of sleep before the next day started.

The memory filled dreams lasted for two more nights, both containing short and comparatively mild informative experiences. After the end of that week, Tsuna and his friends' chaotic "training" schedule resumed in its usual vigor. Tsuna didn't offer an explanation for his breakdown or of his nightmare that night. Reborn didn't ask for one. They didn't speak about it again. But since that night, Tsuna became consciously aware of the fact that Reborn was more than just his home tutor...he was a friend and he was family.

Plus, Mango remained one of his favorite flavors.

* * *

 **A/N:** Fun fact! Long after I had already written this chapter and settled with the title name of Mangos and Oranges, I stumbled across an article by sheer coincidence and read that mangos and oranges are fruit that naturally help with fighting depression. Who knew?


	2. Hit

**Target 02 - Hit**

 **Prompt:** Tsuna faces a real assassination attempt for the first time.

 **Warning:** Brief descriptions of gore and graphic violence

 **Setting:** Namimori; a little over a year after The Curse of the Rainbow Arc

* * *

It happened on the second day of high school while Tsuna was on his way to meet Hayato and Takeshi in front of the school entrance.

The morning had started out like any other day. He'd been able to evade the majority of Reborn's Spartan wake up methods but in his haste of escape, stepped on his own foot and crashed down the stairs. Routine, really.

While jogging his usual twenty laps around the block, Tsuna breathed in and tilted his head back to look at the stars still remaining in the morning sky and allowed his lips to twitch upwards in semblance of a smile. Building up stamina really helped a long way in allowing himself to enjoy his daily exercise. While halfway through lap twelve, the air shifted and Tsuna felt a knot of discomfort settle in his chest. He instantly felt wary. Something like this had only happened once before and that was the day before everyone had been sent to the future. This feeling was a little different and Tsuna didn't like it. He slowed the pace of his jog and kept himself alert.

As he neared the corner of his home street, the knot of distorted into a sharp pang in his gut so poignant that Tsuna's body stopped mid-run in chilling paralysis. He recalled Reborn's earlier lesson about knowing when he was being watched by someone. The teen cast his senses around to locate any possible hostile presences. Finding nothing, he hesitantly continued walking home but the discomfort remained unsatisfied.

Once Tsuna's yard and house were in sight, the high schooler exhaled in relief a the familiar sight. The feeling in his stomach faded away but Tsuna decided to be extra cautious throughout the day. He definitely didn't want to get sent to an apocalyptic future again. He walked through the front door, kicked off his shoes and headed upstairs for a quick shower. The water droplets pelted against his back and whisked away the lingering ache of discomfort from before. Perhaps his paranoia had finally spiked out of control and he'd been imagining things? Afterward, Tsuna quickly dried off, slipped into his school uniform and met the rest of his family downstairs for breakfast.

"Ne, Reborn," he began. "Earlier, there was, well…" He trailed off, unsure of where he was taking the conversation. "I guess...is there anything going on around Namimori? Or something I should know about?" He kept his tone light, not wanting to cause the kids or Kaa-chan any unnecessary worry. For that matter, he wasn't sure he should be worried himself. The feeling was near non-existent now.

The seven-year-old hitman frowned and shot him a puzzled look. "Did something happen, Tsuna?"

Tsuna sighed and shook his head. "I-it's nothing. There's probably a surprise exam today." He didn't want to imagine what may have caused such a dark feeling. Maybe there'd been an accident and someone got injured? _'I hope my friends are all okay,'_ he thought.

Reborn's gaze lingered on Tsuna but he didn't comment any further. They all enjoyed a lovely breakfast cooked by Nana and the eager assistant, I-Pin. Tsuna hurried through his food, not wanting to be late to class.

He hurriedly stood up. "Thank you for the meal," he said while running upstairs to grab his school bag. Before heading out the door for the day, he paused and looked at his tutor, who was just finishing his own meal, unsure of whether he'd be accompanying Tsuna on his way to school or not.

Lately, Reborn had decided to stop following Tsuna so closely outside of school to force him to figure things out on his own. His student was depending on his guardians and home tutor to be the first responders too often.

Reborn looked at his student. "Go along, I'll join up with you soon."

Tsuna nodded and shut the door behind him. Walking to school by himself before he met up with his friends seemed to be the only time in the day when his life wasn't a chaotic mess and Tsuna basked in every second of it. The brunet soaked in the fresh morning atmosphere and welcoming sun rays. The majority of the walk to school was quiet and peaceful.

And then it wasn't. One last small breeze rolled over his body and the air stilled.

Suddenly, the feeling was back, twice as intense as before. Reaching into his back pocket, Tsuna pulled out his mittens and slipped them on. He focused his senses once again but could not pinpoint any causes of disturbance. His confusion heightened. He stood there in the middle of the sidewalk for a full minute. Why was his Hyper Intuition acting up? What was it trying to warn him? There seemed to be absolutely no reason for panic but he his breaths quickened and broke into a sprint towards the school regardless, hoping to reach his friends as soon as possible.

Tsuna continued running for another two minutes when the feeling of paranoia sharpened into a painful jab. His head was ringing _wrong, Wrong, WRONG!_ He shoved some pills into his mouth and burst into Hyper Dying Will Mode, preparing for the attack. A slight tug. _Right_ , his Intuition whispered. Tsuna leapt backwards, missing a miniscule needle by half an inch, no doubt dipped in poison, that flew past his face. He landed, spread his hands to shoot flames at his attacker—

–...?

There was nobody to target. Tsuna spun around. Still no one.

 _Down!_

He dove forward. He felt, rather than saw or heard, something fly over his head, just barely grazing the top locks of his hair. Tsuna rolled out of the dive and immediately got into a defensive position. Orange tinted eyes narrowed. There was still no sign of his attacker or attackers' location. Locations? _Focus._ His senses hummed and buzzed crazily.

These guys, they really wanted to kill him.

It wasn't his first assassination attempt, but he'd never gone against someone as serious as this before. When would they show themselv– _BEHIND!_ The presence was so instantaneous, even Tsuna's hyper reflexes had no time to react.

 _I can't move!_

The masked attacker swung his knife up, aimed for the sweet spot between the teen's lungs. Before the blade could lower, his hand's momentum was promptly knocked off course by a yellow beam of light. It pierced through his flesh, ripped through the bones and muscles of his wrist, nearly decapitating his entire hand from his arm.

The man growled. The shock of his interrupted attack passed. Pain spread up through his whole appendage. Undeterred, he spun around using momentum to throw his leg up and smash against his target's body.

His foot stopped mid-air. A scowling child with inhuman strength, adorned in a black fedora and dark suit was blocking his foot with one hand. The grip tightened, crushing his bones.

"Ciaous," the child greeted, meeting his gaze with a deadly glint in his own. "Nobody's allowed to target this dame-student except me."

-o-

As established, Reborn left a few minutes after Tsuna rushed out the front door, secretly trailing behind his now only semi-dame student (not that he'd ever admit that to anyone, especially said student).

Tsuna's comment at breakfast immediately put him on edge. To date, there had been three assassination attempts on his student. The first attempt, made by Valensa and Toras, was a joke and terrible training opportunity at best. That time, Reborn hadn't worried about the threat of assassination. His only concern was the knowledge that Tsuna was already a marked target to other famiglia.

The second two, Tsuna didn't know about.

Reborn took care of the hitmen before they posed any serious threat to his teen student. He could have turned them into a lesson, but he'd been reluctant to. A legitimate assassination training was a one of those dangerous topics that could become tricky to handle. And Tsuna simply hadn't been ready. Defense against assassination opened the first of the three lessons he was most reluctant to teach a kid like Tsuna, who'd been raised as a sheltered civilian and was simply too _good_ of a person for Reborn to taint like that.

As he trailed behind the future Vongola boss, a subtle feeling of dread settled in his stomach. Fate decided that today was the day he'd pay for delaying the first Hitman lesson. These guys were good. The neighboring civilians had even been taken care of, to ensure no accidental witnesses. It was only due to countless years of accumulated skill and experience that he was able to easily approximate the sources of aggression.

They hid their positions of attack and their killing intent aura incredibly well. Despite his earlier training with Tsuna to identify and locate masked presences, the former arcobaleno knew that his student wouldn't be skilled enough to successfully track these hunters.

Reborn dashed forward to catch up to the future Neo Vongola Primo. His granted time of delay was up. It'd only been a matter of _when_ before assassination attempts, like the one that would no doubt occur in a few minutes, would happen. Dame-Tsuna was in immediate need of a lesson plan change as of yesterday.

He broke into a run, faster than a typical child's body should allow. He constructed a plan, picking out the group of assassins and calculating the character information of each individual. Number of targets: two, no. Three. That third member needed to be taken out immediately. Reborn saw Tsuna's sprinting come to a halt and his student activate his Hyper Dying Will. 'Excellent,' he thought. The hitman tutor dashed off of his original course. Tsuna's flames would buy Reborn a few extra seconds to reach that hidden third member and...

 _Good day, Mr. Sniper-san._ Reborn silently appeared behind the gunman's prostrate body. His two small hands wrapped around the assassin's head, one covering the mouth and the other firmly planted among the roots of the hair. His hands sharply forced the head sideways and back at a twisted angle, with a hard _Crack!_ and the sniper fell limp.

Reborn swiftly disabled the sniper gun. Seeing a switch knife in the sniper's back pocket, Reborn snatched it up and tucked it into his sleeve. Not wanting to waste even half a second, he took off after Tsuna. Reborn arrived just in time to see one of the hitmen appear behind his student. He charged his pistol with sun flames and shot the man's hand off course. Reborn switched his gun to his left hand and blocked the follow up kick with his right. He mentally profiled the man.

Age: mid 30's. Hair, eyes, and facial structure noted. Large stature. Ethnicity appeared to be Greek. Greek? _Really?_ Attire, weaponry and current fighting style suggested primary close-range combatant. These guys weren't the type to any information concerning their employer. Interrogation would be useless.

Reborn tipped the brim of his fedora up and met the assassin's dead eyes. Unbeknownst to Tsuna, Reborn's aura was pouring with the darkest killer intent only seasoned hunters would be able to pick up.

"Ciaous, nobody's allowed to target this dame-student except me."

Reborn used his grip on the assassin's leg to throw his balance off. The man stumbled back. With a flick of the wrist, the knife Reborn had picked up, flew out and embedded deep into his victim's throat. Minimum blood splatter. A quicker clean up after this mess.

Reborn waited for the third. There was absolutely no indication of where or when the next attack would happen. Even the child hitman's gut instinct had some difficulty picking up the next guy's moves.

On the faintest _whim_ , Reborn reflexively leapt up. His fingers shot out and _caught_ a poisoned needle midair, two inches from Tsuna's forehead. Reborn, number one hitman in the world, was already using the needle's positioning, angle, and velocity to exact the final assassin's location whilst both the attacker and high school student were still processing that the hit attempt had been expertly intercepted.

Reborn's pinched fingers thrust the needle towards the ground. When his small feet landed, he pushed off, having already established his target's hiding spot. Of course, by the time Reborn reached his destination, the assassin had already vanished. Tsuna's home tutor promptly twisted around midair, readied his pistol and took aim. Following the same whim as he had before, he took a shot. The bullet zoomed past behind Tsuna and landed in the final hitman's shoulder, right as he suddenly appeared at the boy's back.

The man didn't have time to recover. Reborn was in front of him, breaking his fingers, which held two more poisoned needles. The assassin cried out in pain-laced fury. Recognizing the former sun arcobaleno, his skin paled. Their mission had failed, and he knew it.

"You're good," the suited child smirked. "But I'm Reborn." He cocked his pistol and shoved the muzzle into the assassin's gut, right above his small intestines. He pulled the trigger. "Chaous Burst: Irradiare." The assassin let out a yelp which pierced Namimori's still air but was abruptly cut off. A dozen rays of blinding sunlight ruptured through his body. Life faded from the man's eyes and he crumpled to the ground with a soft thud. Blood splattered the adjacent fence and collected into a pool beneath the corpse.

"Tch," Reborn scoffed. Unlike the first two, this one would be a pain to clean up. And the moron's blood had gone and ruined his suit too. It was a good thing Reborn was growing and in need of a new size anyway.

Tsuna's dying will flame extinguished; his heart was no doubt pounding with adrenaline and his mind still trying to comprehend what just happened. The entire attack had not even lasted two minutes.

Reborn still vividly recalled a similar incident, with Dino. He remembered the panic, horror and _fear_ in the young boy's eyes when he saw his mentor standing in that blood-soaked room, among a scattered pile of bodies. It was bound to happen...the very real awareness from his student that he was a ruthless _killer._ Reborn couldn't have kept that from him forever. Hitmen weren't supposed to _care_ about their missions. It caused too many problems. But Reborn had never been conventional. Becoming a teacher and investing so much time and effort into these young boys made it so hard _not_ to. It took a little over a month for Dino to stop looking at him like _that_ , and for things to go back to how they were. It was only when Dino stepped up the Cavallone boss and was placed in difficult situations that full understanding demolished any leftover wariness.

And now history was repeating itself.

For a minute, it was just them: the home tutor and his student. Namimori was still waking up and just beginning its day.

"R-Reborn, w-what just happened?"

Reborn's gaze snapped up to meet his student's face. The child hitman could see the eyes of the teen's pale face that he was in danger of going into shock. Seeing Dino's reaction prepped Reborn to face the young sky boss but for some reason, Tsuna's felt so much worse.

-o-

"Are you uninjured, Tsuna?"

Tsuna jumped at the unexpected inquiry. The fog settling in his head muddled his thoughts. The question seemed needless. Both Tsuna and Reborn could see he hadn't been physically harmed in any way during the whole fiasco, all thanks to the former arcobaleno. Miraculously, no blood had gotten on him or his uniform either.

"A-ah, I'm okay." He didn't think his answer convinced Reborn. The brunette was still shaken up. Suddenly, he had a terrifying thought. "The others! Takeshi! Hayato!"

"The target was you," Reborn interrupted. "These three are the only hitmen, who did not ally with the Vongola, in Namimori this week." He paused for a moment. "Are you certain you're alright?"

There was a lump in Tsuna's throat, but he nodded. He still didn't think he was fooling his home tutor. Regardless, Reborn nodded and thought for a bit. "In that case, I'm going to clean up this mess. You should still go to school. Your guardians are waiting for you and I don't sense any other attacks happening today."

"O-oh, okay." Tsuna gripped the straps of his school bag tightly. A small splatter of blood had landed on Reborn's cheek and it slowly trailed down his face. Tsuna's stomach clenched. He couldn't force himself to turn away. Go to school? After this? His stomach lurched, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He managed to take a few steps backwards and then stopped.

There was a slight tremor in his hand when reached into his pocket to take out his phone and dial Hayato.

"Good morning, Juudaime!"

"Hayato-kun," greeted Tsuna. "...I…" He found himself unable to tear his gaze away from that one trail of blood on his tutor's cheek. "S-something's come up...and I won't be arriving to school today."

"JUUDAIME!"

"I'm okay!" he quickly reassured. His voice steadied. "I'll explain after school. Ah, I hope Kyoya-sempai doesn't bite me to death later. I'm just calling so that you won't worry and come looking for me."

"Tsuna-sama! Are you alright? Did something happen? Have you already left your house? Where are you? I'll be right there–"

"No! Don't!" he exclaimed, cutting off his best friend. "Reborn...ano, Reborn's taken care of the problem. I will see you all later and explain. Please, don't worry and go to class with everyone else. If you come to see me, Takeshi will insist on following and Onii-san and Kyoko-chan will want to be informed, and then Chrome, Shoichi-kun and Spanner-san will want to investigate...and then Hibari-san will arrive to bite us all to death for skipping...it's better if you stay there. Reborn's with me. I'll see you after school, I _promise._ "

"As annoying as they are, we're all happy to skip and come over!"

"No, Gokudera-kun!"

"But Juudaime–"

" _Please,_ Hayato!" His voice wavered. "There's just something I need to...figure out with Reborn and on my own right now, without everyone here." There must have been some audible desperation in his voice because the silver-haired teen grew uncharacteristically quiet. He could imagine that Gokudera-kun was gritting his teeth.

"Damn it, I'm coming over immediately after the bell rings."

"Okay," Tsuna conceded. I'll try and be ready to answer your questions."

"...fine," Gokudera-kun relented.

"Thank you," sighed Tsuna in relief. "I'll see you later."

"Be safe, Tsuna."

Tsuna hung up and turned back to Reborn, who was frowning. "You're skipping school."

The teen walked up to his hitman and knelt, so he was at eye level with the (not really) kid. Hesitating for just a second, he used a thumb to wipe away the blood that was still slowly trailing down the seven-year old's face. He didn't like seeing that kind of red on his family.

He retrieved his hand and looked the crimson liquid now on his hand. The shock was wearing off and as his senses returned to him, he found the smell the scene nauseating.

"Tsuna, what are you doing?" Reborn had an odd look in his dark eyes. His voice was laced with a hard tone but he let Tsuna do…( _whatever he was doing?_ )...anyway.

"I won't be able to concentrate in class,"Tsuna began. "And if it's not too much trouble, could I...stay with you?" His voice cracked and involuntarily shrunk to a whisper at the last of the question. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I...I could h-help. I'm sure the...the b-bodies will be less hassle if the two of us worked together. So…" Tsuna trailed off, unsure he'd made the right call.

Incredulity briefly flashed across Reborn's features. He read his student one more time. Tsuna was wary and horrified. He was most definitely terrified out of his mind, but those feelings seemed to be directed more so at the current situation than at him, as a killer. This kid, he really was an all-encompassing sky.

Tsuna fidgeted. "I just...I don't think I can…" _leave. I can't brush this off. I don't like leaving you here to deal the aftermath of this with this while I attend a stupid class in school like nothing happened. Please, help me deal with this?_

He didn't finish his sentence, at least, not out loud. He wasn't alright. Reborn, the intuitive mind reader seemed to hear what couldn't voice and sighed.

"This can be your lesson today. Usually, I'd have someone else take care of the mess but unfortunately, Shamal and Bianchi are out of town and people will be passing by soon. We don't have any more time to waste. A boss should be aware of everything that happens before and after a hit." Leon glowed and transformed into a large bag. "Get the first man and put him in the Leon-bag, fast. I'll be right back."

Thankful to have simple orders to follow, Tsuna took the bag and hurried over to the first attacker who had a blade embedded in his throat. The teen crouched down to pick the man up. He was probably nearly three times Tsuna's own weight. Thankfully, almost three years of Reborn-driven spartan training gave him the strength to heave the large assassin into the Leon-bag with minimal struggle. He blinked as he thought about his current situation. Him. Stuffing an actual body into a bag to disposed. How was this his life?! Did people like Reborn do this all the time? He shuddered. He didn't want to dwell on that thought.

Reborn returned, hauling a third man on his back and carrying a sniper gun. Tsuna blanched. A sniper? _Hiiee!_ He hadn't sensed him at all. He obviously had more training to go through or he wouldn't make it through a single day as Decimo (or Neo Primo, or don Vongola, _whatever_ they called it nowadays!).

He created a wide opening so that Reborn could easily toss the sniper into the bag as well. The third body, well, when Tsuna approached it, he choked back a gag. It was a huge mess of mangled flesh, blood, guts and other bodily fluids he didn't even know existed. Reborn took care of that one. Tsuna didn't envy Leon one bit. The shape-shifting chameleon was glowing with some sort of protective layer around it.

Apparently, the Leon-bag was bigger on the inside than its outside appearance would suggest because they managed to fit all three carcasses into the sack and close it. Tsuna didn't really question much things like broken physics laws anymore.

Reborn pointed out a route they would take that would lead out of Namimori and into the woods. Reborn reached into a pocket and sprinkled something over the bloodstains on the sidewalk, road, and fence. The red marks immediately began to fade.

"They'll be long gone by the time we get back," Reborn said. He turned, dragging the bag with unnatural strength and Tsuna numbly trailed behind. Once in the woods, Reborn kept walking and led them to an isolated clearing. With Reborn calmly directing Tsuna through each step, the whole process went by rather smoothly, in Tsuna's opinion. They dug a small pit (Tsuna didn't ask where in the world Reborn even got the shovels from) and dumped the bodies in a pile.

Reborn pulled out a container and sprinkled the liquid it held over the three men. The bodies started sizzling and disintegrating. Soon, the teen could see that the substance was eating away through the flesh, leaving behind dry ash. He sweatdropped. _(Hiiieee!? Reborn was carrying something dangerous like THAT around in his pocket all this time? Scary!)_

"Why didn't we use that stuff before coming all the way out here?" Tsuna asked.

"It'll take time to work through everything and someone would have stumbled across the scene," answered Reborn.

Oh. And that was that.

The tutor was right; Tsuna estimated it took over twenty minutes until they were left with a pile of disintegrated and charred...something...and ash. Tsuna and Reborn set to work filling the pit back up. They worked quickly, neither willing to start up conversation. When all was done and finished, Tsuna stood there, looking at the ground where _he had_ _just helped bury three people_. There was no evidence. Again, how was this his life?

"Do you think they had families?"

Reborn patted the once again even ground with his foot. "Maybe. Don't make any of this personal. To them, it was just another job. To you, it's another day survived. Such is the life in the mafia."

"I'm not going to be a mafia boss."

"Whatever the case, as the next in line to be the next Vongola leader, you don't have a choice. You're already involved in the world."

Tsuna frowned in frustration. That was the truth and he didn't like it. "Where did they come from?"

"Not sure. I'm going to call Nono as soon as we're done here and look further into who sent them."

The brunette thought about the entire morning's events. He'd been targeted for assassination. It wasn't the first time but this was way different from the one before. Someone, somewhere, really wanted him dead. If they'd succeeded, he wouldn't be at school, returning home to his siblings or Kaa-chan... seeing his friends again...if it Reborn hadn't rescued him..."

Tsuna's legs gave out underneath him. "I-I was helpless," he bit out. "Even with the Intuition and my flames, I couldn't _do_ anything. I was useless, _dame_."

Reborn tilted his head. "Well, all things considered, you managed to dodge the poisoned blades, before I arrived so that somewhat contributed to your survival."

Tsuna's facial features scrunched up. He wasn't sure how to interpret that. Was Reborn was attempting to make him feel _better_ about this? His hitman tutor, as always, remained unreadable.

"But you're right. You were completely pathetic. Starting tomorrow morning, you're going to run five laps around Namimori in preparation for the next lesson I've got for you. As for tonight, Gokudera and Yamamoto are going to catch you up on all of the school work you're missing right now."

All color drained from Tsuna's face. "H-haiii…"

Reborn kept his true thoughts to himself. Tsuna had been far outclassed and that was on Reborn's shoulders. Going against the Varia, Millefiore and Vindice provided the future boss with a fighting experience that didn't fully cover defending from ambush assassinations like this one. They were different styles. Tsuna needed this push.

Previously, Tsuna's strength and drive was only drawn from his desire to protect his friends and family. Now, a new flame was born; Reborn could see it in his student's eyes. Tsuna wanted to get stronger, for himself. He wanted to live another day to see his family again. He could work with that. They would be diving into the first of his three most hated and feared lessons within the next twenty-four hours. Tsuna was going to need his rest.

He wordlessly offered his hand to his favorite student (Dino would never know) who was still kneeling on the ground. Tsuna blinked in surprise and accepted it. He pulled the high schooler back up onto his feet.

The (not really) seven-year-old tipped the brim of his fedora down. "Hm, you still have a long way to go, dame-Tsuna; as your tutor, it's my job to ensure you make it to your next lesson. I'm determined to make you live up to your potential as the Neo Vongola Primo."

 _I'm going to make sure you survive and come out on top_.

Tsuna fixed his large brown eyes on his teacher and let himself latch onto that promise.

"Na, thank you, Reborn."

The teen followed his hitman tutor out of the woods wordlessly. The sun in the sky seemed to simultaneously shine a little darker and a little brighter than it ever had before.

* * *

 **Alternate Ending:**

"Na," Tsuna murmured. "Thank you for saving me, Reborn."

"Hmph, it's my job as your tutor to ensure you make it to your next lesson, dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna smiled, in spite of himself. "Still, it was...it was terrifying to be in that situation, where it was them or me. I feel a little safer knowing you're around."

The (not really) seven-year-old tipped the brim of his fedora down, subtly masking his surprise. He lifted his leg and kicked Tsuna in the back, smashing him to the ground.

"Hiiee–tata! Reborn, what was that for!?"

"Don't be sappy, dame-Tsuna. This Target chapter has had enough ellipses and potential drama chick flick moments to last through an entire arc. We're not in a romance. The readers are going suffer from my out-of-character-ness."

"Ellipses... _?_ Hiiii, what romance? _Out-of-?_ WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

"You've gotten soft. A boss keeps his true emotions and thoughts in check."

"I-w-bos- _what_?"

Reborn didn't deem that response worthy of further explanation and he turned around, heading back to town. His student, confusedly trailing right behind him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes, Part 1:** Yes, Reborn can momentarily break the fourth wall when the situation calls for it. It's been _years_ since I've written anything and actually posted on or AO3 and I can't believe I've actually taken this project on. My writing style has changed, and I welcome and appreciate any reviews and constructive criticism because I can always improve!

 **Part 2:** As a fanfiction reader, how I imagined other good fanfiction writers write their stories: somehow have actual free time to think of, maybe outline, write out, and edit their chapter ideas in that exact consecutive order.

How I find myself writing my fanfiction: about 30 different plot bunnies in my head, 6 moderately outlined and scattered in different places, 3 mostly completed one-shots but suffering in writer's block or not ready to be posted yet, 5 different story arcs outlined vaguely in my head but too long of projects for me to start tackling right now; several small blurbs that kind of wrote themselves and I don't know what to do with them now because the rest of the scenes _aren't_ writing themselves...and absolutely no time dedicated to give my full attention to any of these because...life.

If you were look at my profile, you'd see that the last time I wrote something and posted it was back in 2012. Yeah. There's a reason for that. I'm just not at a place in my life where I can offer regular updates over a long period of time. And I probably won't reach that point until I'm completely done with school. I'd feel bad for starting something and then abandoning it because I don't have the time or motivation to finish which is something I've already done multiple times. This is why I've always held back as far as writing and publishing fanfiction stories myself. That being said, why in the world have I started posting this?

Fortunately (for you my dear readers) and unfortunately (for my sanity and school grades), some of these fic ideas just won't leave me alone so I end up losing time and sleep just jotting them down until suddenly, I have something I can post on A03 and with just a bit of editing. I decided to stop holding myself back and just post the first chapter of Mangos and Oranges as an experiment because in case this takes off and becomes well liked, I can handle one-shots. I don't have to drown myself with guilt for leaving y'all on a cliffhanger after each update!

 **Side Mentioning:** Also, I'm planning on re-watching the anime and re-reading the manga because (besides the wikia page and occasional youtube videos) it's been years since I've seen any actual canon material. I like to make characterizations as accurate as possible (or at the very least, completely plausible) but until I can get around to _that_ time-consuming task, you're just left with whatever my memory has to offer.


	3. Pride of the Sun

**Target 03 - Pride of the Sun**

 **Prompt:** From Eremija's tumblr request for cywscross: "featuring fatherly!Reborn/self-doubting!Tsuna(Rainbow arc). Tsuna can't help but notice how Reborn looks on at Dino in pride, like a parent would their child. Tsuna's hardly jealous, it's just he wonders if anyone would ever look at him in that way. Because no matter how far he has come, he still feels every bit of no good as he had in the beginning. And his mother, no matter how loving, has never been truly proud of him. If only Tsuna really knew…"

 **A/N:** This is the only prompt on my list that was thought of by someone else. It was requested 2 years ago and cywscross passed it along for anyone else to take. I took the prompt and wrote the majority of this one-shot but my tardiness is due to the fact that I had to leave on a long-term mission for my church before I could finish and post it. This became much longer than I anticipated. It's not exactly what was ordered, and I know I'm no fanfic writer deity like Sky Gem, cywscross or exocara, but I tried my best. I also wrote this fic in present tense; I hardly ever do that, and it felt a little weird to me at first but that's how the prompt was formatted so present tense just what naturally started out and I decided to stick with it.

 **Setting:** Namimori and Tsuna's head. Mentions all KHR arcs, including manga.

* * *

The first time Tsuna notices it, Bucking Horse Dino is visiting Japan again and decides to drop by to see what his "little bro" is up to.

The brunet isn't exactly sure how he gets into the kind of situations he does sometimes. His day somehow goes from getting crushed with a welcoming hug to hanging upside down in some random warehouse whilst he waits for one of his friends to cut him down as Dino and Hibari take out the last handful of local herbivore yakuza. It isn't even late afternoon yet. Gokudera is fretting over his wellbeing and Yamamoto is carefully slicing off the last bit of rope that's binding his wrists with his baseball-bat-turned-sword. Tsuna thanks them both and looks up to see Hibari stalking out of the warehouse and Dino checking with his men to see if they are injured in any way.

Tsuna just happens to glance over towards Reborn, whose attention is on Dino at the moment, and sees a new sort of funny face on the infant hitman. Well, funny isn't really the description Tsuna would use but he can't quite identify what that facial expression is supposed to mean. It's only there for a small moment before it's vanished and Reborn is lecturing the Cavallone boss on how his technique could be improved.

Tsuna doesn't think too much about that look. In fact, after a few seconds, he almost completely forgets about it.

But then at the end of the day, Dino's leading his men out of the house and back to their cars, enthusiastically waving goodbye at Tsuna and his friends. Tsuna's turning to go back inside when he catches Reborn still looking at his former student, with that same unidentifiable look on his face. The infant's mouth is resting in a sort of content, small smile. Not the kind of sadistic grin Tsuna deals with on a daily basis. This one is different. It's not necessarily the smile that throws off the teen brunet, but there's a new kind of light in the hitman's eyes. Tsuna's never seen that facial expression on his tutor before and he doesn't know what to make of it.

Then Reborn whips around and heads back inside. Once again, the new facial expression is completely wiped off his face, as if it had never been there to begin with. Tsuna is left wishing for a brief moment that he could read minds too.

The new facial expression is just that. A facial expression. Tsuna's got enough on his mind and in his chaotic life to worry about than fret over one simple new look he just so happened to see on the baby's face, so Tsuna easily lets incident fade from his memory.

Two weeks later, Tsuna, Kyoko, Haru and Ryohei are cheering Yamamoto on in his baseball game and Gokudera is shouting threats that Yamamoto better do a good job and not let the Tenth down.

Yamamoto's intense focus sends a chilling spike of thrill through the crowds. The pitcher swiftly launches a fast ball. Yamamoto's bat slashes through the air. A sharp _Crack!_ and the ball is powering through the air, flying across the field.

The outfielder misses!

And a thundering _ROAR!_ as everyone screams in elation. Yamamoto's teammate slides home and Rain Guardian makes it around to third base before the ball is retrieved. There are only a few minutes left in the game, but the winner is obvious. Namimori Junior High's baseball team is victorious that afternoon and the school celebrates.

Tsuna and his friends run up to Takeshi after the game with the rest of the crowding friends and family of the baseball team to congratulate his friend for the team's victory. Yamamoto's modest about it all but he's practically glowing. So are the rest of his teammates. Tsuna and his friends decide to head over to Yamamoto Tsuyoshi's restaurant for a party in honor of the baseballer's achievement.

Before the group leaves the field, Tsuna sees one of Yamamoto's teammates being praised by his parents and Tsuna falters in his step just a little because...that boy's parents share the same facial expression that Reborn wore that day, two weeks ago. And now, Tsuna's mind is racing through all of his memories of when he's seen his classmates' parents beaming at their kids after they've accomplished something. It's only now that Tsuna is able to identify what kind of look Reborn had been giving Dino.

It had been one of pride.

The realization takes a few seconds to fully sink in and when it does, a small and strange feeling forms in his gut. Tsuna shakes off the foreign sensation and turns away to join with his friends and celebrate.

-o-

It's a funny thing, awareness. It's like a whole new sense has been awakened in the teen and now he can't stop noticing it everywhere. He sees when his school teachers are proud of the grades his fellow classmates make. He sees when Kyoko is proud of her big brother after he's won a boxing match. He sees so many more parents smiling proudly at their children, like if they radiate this pride that they have hard enough, the whole world just might see how amazing their child is.

Tsuna also sees that no one looks at him with this kind of pride.

But why should they? He's dame-Tsuna. Between his absolute lack in athleticism, pathetic grades, and overall wimpiness, what exactly is there in him for someone to be proud of? And even if there _was_ something worth having pride in, who would see it?

Nana. Tsuna loves his mother. He used to be irritated whenever she scolded him for skipping school or shirking from his responsibilities. Now, Tsuna realizes, those reprimands were well deserved and given to him out of natural concern and parental love.

One afternoon, Tsuna's feeling peculiarly selfish and he decides to show off a homework score he received yesterday, on which he achieved a 30% instead of 15 for once.

"Kaa-san," Tsuna says, holding the paper up. "I got a higher score on my assignment."

Nana stares at the paper and she smiles brightly. "Tsu-kun! That's wonderful you're making improvements. Reborn-kun must be doing a good job as your tutor!"

Reborn, upon overhearing this conversation, hums in gratitude for the compliment but simultaneous disagrees of Tsuna's choice of accomplishment. "That's pathetic. Dame-Tsuna can do better. Hurry upstairs and we'll get started on your lessons"

But Tsuna's hardly listening to the baby hitman right now. His eyes are fixated on his mother's face and body language. It's the same bright oblivious smile and positive aura she carries around with her all day. There's nothing new, no spark or hint of something even remotely similar to the pride he's been constantly seeing on other parents' faces.

A couple weeks of additional observation leads Tsuna to one simple conclusion. Nana is always pleased with Tsuna, especially when her son does anything productive rather than laze around all day. But pride? His mother has never really been proud of him. Or if she has been, it's been so long that the brunet can't recall the experience at all. At least, not in the way that Tsuna craves right now.

As for his father, well, Tsuna stopped missing his dad a long time ago. He doesn't want Iemitsu's advice. He'd only like his father's acknowledgement, for him to take things seriously and be a regular dad for a small moment. But no, Otou-san doesn't even give him simple acknowledgement for his efforts. And that? That angers Tsuna: for Iemitsu to voluntarily just be completely absent from his life and then waltz right back in, disregarding all of his son's concerns, questions and fears, and taking control of Tsuna's life.

In fact, he's felt Iemitsu's pride. It feels less rewarding than being given none. When Iemitsu watches him light up with dying will flames, Tsuna has this unsettled feeling like his father had been expecting this courageous behavior from him all the time and he was just finally living up to standard expectations. That for Tsuna to do anything other than succeed in defeating his opponents for the sake of his friends, is a disappointment.

Tsuna's not sure which is worse, his father's basic pride in his son finally acting like a Vongola boss or the utter lack of high expectation Iemitsu has in him when he's not in his hyper dying will state and is "Daddy's little Tuna-fish" again.

Yeah, he's bitter that the one parent who loves him unconditionally is blissfully ignorant of the dark world he's immersed in and will never truly see the way he's growing while the other who does see what he's doing, makes him feel like all his hard work should be common behavior.

Maybe he's not a completely lost case though. When Tsuna's friends are in danger and he manages to defeat Xanxus, he's bone-dead tired and he collapses on the ground in complete exhaustion. He knows he should get over to the hospital to not only visit Lambo but have his own battle wounds examined but he has absolutely no energy reserved to move even a single step at the moment.

Reborn walks over to him, giving him a pointed look. "Are you going to lay there all night, dame-Tsuna?"

"Ghrmmmm," Tsuna closes his eyes in spite and groans. Trust Reborn to cut into this small resting period just after they had been assaulted by the scariest people he's ever met. Seriously. He was done with all of this Vongola mafia business for good.

Reborn considers his student's physical, mental, and emotional states for a moment and then hums. "Don't take too long. As a mafia boss, it's your job to check on the well-beings of your Guardians and subordinates after a battle."

Tsuna doesn't even have the ability to argue he's never going to be a mafia boss. He lets his head fall to his right and half opens his eyes again to give his tutor a dead stare.

Reborn looks over the brunet one more time, slightly tilts his head, and then gives him a smile. "You did well, Tsuna."

And all at once, Tsuna's breath catches, his eyes snap open wider and his heart skips a beat. He gazes at his tutor, who's looking at him with...maybe not the same look of pride that was directed towards Dino, but...the smallest flicker of approval. Even with the sharp memory of the grim events that had just taken place not ten minutes ago, Tsuna's world lights up. He savors this unexpected praise he's being given from this hitman baby and completely soaks it in.

But then the moment is over as Reborn promptly heads off to speak with Colonello. The former, unaware of how profound an impact his one phrase and accompanying look had on the teen in his charge.

Tsuna blinks a few times and with a few deep breaths, pulls himself to his feet. He supposes that it must be pitiful to get caught up over such a short compliment, but he can't help it. He wants to receive more approving looks. Not necessarily the ones his friends give him either.

How is it that Tsuna is credited with the success of situations he has absolutely no part of? The brunet is always left in some sort of hazed out dismay when Reborn, Yamamoto and Ryohei congratulate him on his practically non-existent efforts to turn a chaotic situation into a beneficial mafia boss lesson.

And Gokudera, well, Gokudera-kun is another tale altogether. The bomber's constant praise and glorification of Tsuna's every action is a bit much, to be honest. Tsuna's pretty sure his friend has deluded himself into seeing something in Tsuna that _clearly_ isn't there, so his unrelenting adoration isn't really all that realistically genuine. But Tsuna appreciates it all the same. He appreciates them all, but they don't quite fulfill this growing and unrelenting need of parental praise he's searching for.

And then the future happens.

-o-

Tsuna isn't entirely sure who is to blame for starting this whole mess. Irie Shoichi? Byakuran? The rings themselves? Whatever or whoever the answer is, Tsuna and his friends (who are steadily becoming more like family) are currently paying for it. In blood, sweat and tears. And to make matters worse, Reborn can't step in to save the day if things go badly. He's on his own. The acclimated pressure and exponential growth he's forced to endure in this strange new world is rough, terrifying. Stressful and draining. After the shock wears off, fear, fury, and frustration motivate him to push on in this future of turmoil.

Somehow, he survives. In the end, he survives! His family survives. The whole damn world survives. But Byakuran, Yuni, and Gamma don't. And a part of him will always feel like a failure for letting that happen.

Turns out, the one who orchestrated the whole plan to snatch him and his friends from the present and force them through hell so that they could defeat a tyrannical monster who wasn't even in their own world...was _him_!

Well, Future him.

The teen brunet is torn between stunned admiration for this Future Decimo Tsuna, who desperately developed this bizarre plot-twisting plan that _succeeded_ , and utter loathing for becoming and for doing everything he swore he'd never do. Become a mafia boss? Lead the Vongola into war? Break his friends' hearts by leading them to believe he had been murdered? Risk placing himself and his friends in lethal danger? Willingly diminish the innocent, blissful ignorance in Kyoko, Haru, I-pin and Lambo?

Tsuna knows it had all been done as a last resort and in the name of the greater good. But he swears to himself that he'll never become that man. Maybe that's the core problem in all of this. Because of the various trials he and his friends had gone through, even Tsuna can see that he's gotten a little better at fighting, and stronger in using his power. But his current self is still very pathetic in comparison to the Decimo of the future.

Well, what did he expect? Of course, his current self is nowhere near as "cool" as his future mafia boss self had been. He still has time to grow.

But Tsuna hadn't missed the glances of approval and small pride that Reborn, Future-Yamamoto, Future-Hibari and the rest of his friends had given him whenever Future-Tsuna was mentioned. It was even worse when the present-day versions of his friends would be in total awe of the future Decimo's accomplishments. It was like they expected him, _their_ Tsuna, to do and become all that his future self did and was. That worries Tsuna a lot, for a number of reasons.

First, Tsuna can't even fathom how he would go about constructing an underground base like the one he and his friends had trained in. And, leading the Vongola? While he's vehemently rejected any desire of becoming a mafia boss, his future apparently said differently. Tsuna doesn't want his actions and _his_ future to be dictated by what they saw in _that_ hellish world. Byakuran mentioned something about other Tsunas' in parallel universes and that current Tsuna, _him_ , had been the only one make the winged psychopath bleed. Even so...for what other reason would Byakuran have to fight against the other-Tsuna's in the first place unless he were still involved in the mafia in those worlds? Even Primo addressed Tsuna as "Decimo." Was it part of some sort of inescapable destiny he was supposed to fulfill?

If that was the truth, then his so-called destiny would be a disappointment for everyone.

Against all odds, if he does happen to say yes, Tsuna can't help but remember of all the things Future-Tsuna accomplished. Looking at his current self in comparison, Tsuna feels every bit no-good as he did in the very beginning.

Tsunayoshi's used to failure. His childhood was filled with so many moments of being a letdown that people started expecting nothing from him. At some point, Tsuna just gave up. Why try if nobody cared anymore, not even himself? It certainly allowed him to slack off in everything.

Perhaps that was the most jarring aspect of Reborn forcefully inserting himself into Tsuna's life. It wasn't necessarily the chaos or the grenades, the random appearances of dangerous mafioso, or an involuntary family he's grown to love and accept. No, it wasn't any of these that honestly tripped Tsuna up. It was the powerful fact that suddenly, there was a person who, despite the knowledge that he was an infant, seriously expected Tsuna to complete crazy, great and spectacular things..to do and become _better_. The brunet is positive that he's only breathing oxygen still, because of pure luck.

How does anyone actually expect him to do a good job at being a leader? Tsunayoshi's used to failure and now that he's faced with the possible destiny of being one again. He thought he'd be able to stomach it but instead of the returning familiarity of his miserable old life, he feels like a cold rock is digging deeply into his gut and leaving a painfully empty hole in his heart. Tsuna knows that this time, it'll hit harder than any punch Xanxus or Byakuran could ever give him. Because this time, he has something precious to lose.

-o-

Tsuna scuffs his shoe against the hot pavement as he kicks a rock out of his path. He's wandering down the blocks, aimlessly, by himself. The sun still has a few hours before it'll sink below the horizon. It's the weekend. Gokudera is probably arguing with Ryohei or Yamamoto about the correct play strategies of a newly released game right now. He hasn't seen much of Hibari lately. The skylark moved on to Senior High. He somehow gained a position with the Namimori Police Department, but the Cloud Guardian occasionally makes a point to drop by and bite him to death. Chrome mentioned she'd be shopping with Kyoko, Haru, and the kids, earlier. He should be happy and hanging out with his friends but, right now, he won't be able to focus on anything except the heavy letter he's expected to answer by tomorrow.

It's hard to believe that so much has happened within the last couple of years: meeting the scariest spartan tutor in the world, gaining his friends, safely returning from the future, learning about the history between the Vongola and Simon famiglias, and finding the truth about the Vindice and breaking the curse of the Arcobaleno.

Now, Tsuna's in his last year of Junior High. He's not quite sure how he made it but thanks to the countless study sessions and stroke-inducing "lessons" Reborn kicked him through, he's fairly certain that he'll successfully graduate with the rest of his class next month.

He's ready to move on to Senior High, hopefully completely abandon the stupid moniker of dame-Tsuna to the past, and maybe find a club to join. He lives in a world of chaos but compared to the past several events he's gone through, it's all fun and peaceful times right now. And, doesn't that say something, when routinely snapping awake to avoid grenades from a certain sadistic Reborn is considered "peaceful"?

And Tsuna? Tsuna is _alive_. He has a family to share fun memories with and protect. He has friends he can rely on and people he trusts to always have his back, because he'd do the same for them. When he smiles now, he's truly happy; and when he laughs,he genuinely means it. The sky is open and light. And he wants this all to last every day, forever.

Then the Ninth has to drag him back to reality...force him to remember that time is still passing by and simple times don't last endlessly. The official letter from Nono arrives in the mail, for Tsuna, at the beginning of the week. It congratulates Tsuna on his upcoming graduation, inquires how he was doing, and requests that Tsuna reconsider his earlier choice to refuse the position as the Vongola heir, before the whole Simon Famiglia incident.

If he's going to be completely honest with himself, the firm will that he used to hold against leading the Vongola, is loosening little by little. Tsuna is starting to forget what his life used to be like before all of this mafia mess and he's not so sure he wants to cut himself off from this lifestyle anymore. Leading his friends, each time they got into a battle of some sort, still gives him everlasting panic attacks but Tsuna is learning to successfully settle into the role of crowd management. Hibari's become impressed lately. And so, with all of this in mind, there's just the smallest, _tiniest_ , part of himself that is honestly considering accepting the title of Neo Vongola Primo.

Tsuna's been mulling over his answer all week. He's fully weighing the pros and cons of his answer. If he says yes...well, if he says yes, then goodbye to normal civilian life forever. He has friends and family now, and he knows how to fight a little better, but he's nowhere close to being a full-fledged boss! What if he doesn't do a good job? Tsuna already knows that if he does take over the Vongola, he won't keep the famiglia as a mafia organization. He'll tear that right up and he fully expects to meet a lot of resistance doing it, from both allies and even the Vongola itself.

He'll probably meet a lot of resistance from Timoteo, his father, and Reborn too. All these years, all of the people he's gained into his life and the experiences he's had, this whole time, from the very beginning the point of it all was to train him to become a mafia boss. And the disappointment of him going against all of that, from Iemtisu and Nono, he could probably handle. Make no mistake, he doesn't want their disappointment in him at all. He looks up to the Ninth and loathe he is to admit it, his father, just a little, , he thinks he could learn to live with the weight of their disapproval in him. But this is all assuming that he actually succeeds. What if he accepts and does a horrible job? Maybe he'd be able to live with disappointment from them in that regard as well.

However, Reborn is definitely a different matter altogether. Tsuna doesn't think he would manage to stand properly if he has to look Reborn in the face and watch the child hitman's opinion of him slip from promising student to a complete let down.

But if he says _no_ —and he's really leaning towards that old answer still—Tsuna will still be a disappointment, since all of the spartan training Reborn put him through and everything Tsuna's done to grow into a leader, would have been for nothing. And if Tsuna's completely honest with himself, he'll probably ponder the "what if I had said 'yes'" question many times in the future and live with some form of regret.

It's a no-win situation.

By now, Tsuna is several blocks away from his house and he spies a vacant park. He trudges over the the swings and lets himself fall into one. He closes his eyes as his head hangs down. His feet push his body away from the ground and he lets himself rhythmically sway back and forth, back and forth. The paper he intends to write his response to the Ninth on is folded in his back pocket.

"Do you have an answer to give to Nono?"

The teen glances over to see his hell-raising child tutor, standing in front of him, a few feet away.

Tsuna swallows. "Did the Ninth tell you he'd be asking me again?"

Reborn shakes his head. "Nope. You're just incredibly easy to read, dame-Tsuna. It takes less effort than opening a book to figure out what's on your mind."

Tsuna gives a weak smile. "I'm pretty sure you're the only person who thinks that, besides Mukuro-kun."

The hitman shrugs. "It's really not that hard. By now, I'm pretty sure that I know you like I know my own flames."

"So then you know what I'll end up telling the Ninth?"

"I have a good guess."

Reborn and his stupid, all-knowing smirks.

"Then please enlighten me because _I_ have no idea what I'm supposed to say," Tsuna bites out.

Reborn pauses, staring at his student for a moment and then walks over to hop on the left swing next to Tsuna. "Alright. Clearly, something has been bothering you all week and I'm sensing there's more to it than a simple concern over giving a yes or no answer."

Tsuna remains silent but Reborn isn't showing any signs of letting up either.

"What is it, dame-Tsuna?"

"I'm not good enough."

It just comes out. He doesn't mean to verbalize it, but he can't take it back now and he bites his bottom lip involuntarily.

Reborn doesn't comment and after some minor internal argument, Tsuna figures he should elaborate. "I'm never _good_ enough. I can't do sports without falling on my face. I can't write a paper without you having me do it at least five times. I can't even make a basic meal without mixing up the ingredients. You and everyone I meet tell me how much my friends depend on me, but the truth is, I'm the one depending on them. How can anyone depend on me? I... I–So many people are…"

Tsuna's vision goes blurry and he realizes that he's starting to cry. Why is he crying? He quickly wipes the tears away, but they keep reforming. "I just…d-damn it!" he hisses. He clenches his fists and fights to keep his breathing even. "I don't even know what I'm trying to say."

Reborn lightly presses his lips together and chooses this time to respond. "What makes you believe that you're not good enough, Tsuna?"

Tsuna tries searching for the right words. "I'm not...sure how to explain it but...I see how everyone looks at me. People...they look at me or...rather, they don't look at me with the same kind of pride and respect that they have when they look at other people. And, I mean, I've gotten used to that. No one's ever really been proud of me and I can understand why: there's nothing about me to be proud of. But lately, we've been thrown in a lot of dangerous situations and everyone—well, not _everyone,_ just those who know about the mafia—is starting to look at me differently. I don't know what they see that's different, but I guess...I guess I'm just worried that I'm going to disappoint everyone. Again.

"My whole life, I only wanted to be accepted for who I was, but I realize that there's not really much in me that's worth any sort of acknowledgement. It was by simple dumb luck that I happened to be the direct descendent of Primo and...it was only when I got elected to be the Vongola boss that people started showing any interest in who I am. The...the thing is, you were right. I've hardly changed. I'm not that guy from the future. I'm not the Neo Vongola Primo. I'm just...me. Someone who can't get anything right and who has had fortunate things happen to him every day. But one day, that good luck is going to run out and I'll just be left to deal with it all and…" His voice trembles and diminishes. "I-I'm _scared_. Reborn, I'm scared...that people are going to see the real me. The real me who's...just useless-Tsuna trying to be someone he's not."

The teen student has long since given up on wiping his tears now.

"And when it comes down to it, who would ever follow, much less be proud of, someone like me?"

Reborn's eyebrows furrow. His chin angles down so that his fedora shadows his face. "Really?"

"What?"

"You really believe that?"

Tsuna hunches further into himself: "What do you mean? What else am I supposed to think?"

There's a moment of silence. Tsuna fidgets uncomfortably; he isn't sure what he's supposed to do now. He'd spoken way more than he ever wanted Reborn to know in that ramble and now he feels awkward. When would his tutor leave so that the two could pretend like this conversation never happened?

"Tsuna, will you look at me?"

Startled from his thoughts, he lets his eyes glance up and they slightly widen when he sees the former sun arcobaleno standing up to his full (yet still growing) height, directly in front of Tsuna.

Reborn looks contemplative but straightens himself and squares his gaze right at his teen student. "Please, allow me to...set some things in that poor head of yours straight. We, your guardians, your family, and I, all see the real you. Nobody's under _any_ illusions about the kind of person you are. We all know that you've hardly changed from the dame-person you were before you learned about the Vongola. Nevertheless…"

Deep black, obsidian eyes firmly hold his gaze. It's penetrating, and the young sky flame user finds he wouldn't be able to look away even if he wanted to.

"Tsuna, I want you to listen closely because I'm only going to say this once, but I mean every word of it."

Tsunayoshi hesitantly nods.

"When I first received my assignment to train you to be the next Vongola mafia boss, I had certain expectations of the kind of person I'd be working with for the upcoming years. Iemitsu gave me a brief idea of what to expect when I arrived but from the moment I met you, you exceeded all of my expectations. You were more cowardly, incompetent, and dysfunctional than even I had anticipated."

Tsuna winces but allows his teacher to go on uninterrupted.

"I pushed you through intense, non-conventional training because I knew anything less would not be enough to forge you into the kind of man you needed to become in such short amount of time. When you fought Mukuro, developed bonds with your guardians, and fought against the Varia officers, I was finally able to see you begin to transform into the kind of young man you always had the potential to become and I was satisfied that my mission to train you would be a success."

Reborn pauses and takes a deep breath. "But then you went and... did something I hadn't thought possible. You completely exceeded all of my expectations and predictions of your growth. You, dame-Tsuna, not only rose up to the challenge in defeating Byakuran and re-establishing the friendship with the Simon famiglia...you said no. To me. You went against my direct command and united _everyone_ to fight against the Vindice and Checkerface for–for me, and for all of the arcobaleno. In addition, you soared over my expectations again and not only defeated Bermuda and Jager but found a peaceful way to end the arcobaleno curse.

"I may not show it often, but I think that the person you've truly become is kind of incredible. Even if the situation with the battles had turned out very differently, I can say as an absolute fact that I was, and _am_ , very proud to have you as my student. I don't need Yuni's vision to see that you are a fine boss and the best future for the Vongola."

Tsuna sputters. "B-but I'm going t-to destroy the Vongola and change everything about the mafia."

Immediately, Reborn lets out a small chuckle. He's positively _beaming_ at his student. "I know. And I look forward to witnessing every moment of it. As the one person who completely defies all expectation, I'd expect nothing less."

Tsuna swallows. There's a lump in his throat and it's kind of hard to breathe properly.

"You don't have to be 'good' enough for your friends and Guardians to follow you to the ends of the Earth," Reborn continues. "They will because they see the kind, strong, and good person that you are and the bonds you've created with them over the years. That is what makes you the person they want to follow for the rest of their lives. Very few leaders win that kind of loyalty from others.

"And as for me," Reborn's hand slightly tilts the brim of his fedora. "I, Tsuna, would consider it an honor and pleasure to continue working with you as the next Vongola boss."

"..."

Tsuna's voice cracks. "Really?"

"Really."

The hitman hops up onto the Tsuna's lap, lightly smacks his student and then lets his hand rest on top of the teen's head.

"Dame-Tsuna, you don't have to do or _be_ anything more to earn my respect and pride. You already have it. And as long as you stay true to yourself, you will always have it. However, I have full confidence that you are going to do amazing things in the future, both as the Neo Vongola Primo and as Sawada Tsunayoshi."

His breath completely leaves him. This is... _nothing_ like Lussuria or Shoichi's or any experience he's had with sun flames before. He awed by the commanding presence, the aura and attention that the young hitman has which is focusing completely on _him._ It's as if all of the sun's searing rays have been funneled into one fierce pillar, directed at his heart and piercing through his whole soul with an intensity that almost burns. It's overwhelming. Tsuna now understands intimately why Reborn was the sun arcobaleno.

"I hope I never have to give you that full lecture again, so don't forget it. Now, what are you going to write in response to the Ninth's letter?"

Tsuna blinks away the remaining moisture in the corners of his eyes. The intensity lightens up but he feels warm. Warm and healed like he's just come out of an extreme surgery. He swallows and allows a real smile to form. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a pen and the folded piece of paper.

 _Thank you, Reborn._

* * *

 **A/N:** Tsuna has a lot of internal dialogue.


End file.
